Let's Talk About Raye. Why Is He So Hated?

Let's talk about Raye. Why is he so hated?

I think it’s almost entirely because he comes off quite condescending to Naomi when she tries to bring up a good point to him during his surveillence of Light.

Naomi politely points out that it seems kind of suspicious that the bus Raye was on was hijacked while he was tailing a Kira suspect, and then he replies like so:

I think it’s mostly the way Raye phrases things, like that her shrewd intuition about the case is a “habit” she needs to get rid of, and that little “how about using that brain of yours for more WIFEY things?” comment at the end. Haha, it’s easy to feel like Naomi’s being patronized by him and told to get back to the kitchen where she belongs or something like that, and most people really love Naomi and were very upset that Light killed her so cruelly and so early on. The fandom gets really protective over her and this often leads to anger toward the male characters that didn’t interact with her very nicely (though usually not Beyond Birthday, mostly just Raye and Light).

However, I think Ohba genuinely meant for Raye to be a sympathetic character and for the audience to think of him in a pretty positive way. There is an issue all throughout the manga where the author’s sexism ends up colouring the way he writes all the female characters and their interactions with men, and I think this is just an example of one of those things. I don’t think Ohba necessarily realized that it sounded pretty patronizing, or if he did he probably assumed that most people would automatically agree with Raye in how he spoke to Naomi.

Some other interpretations that could be offered here are:

-Raye means well and is mostly worried about Naomi’s safety. He mentions that he doesn’t want her to do anything that will put her in danger, and reminds her of their original reasons for both coming to Japan. It is a very dangerous investigation, and he obviously is risking his life quite seriously by being one of the people tailing the suspects. It makes sense that he would be worried about her wanting to become more personally involved.

-He mentions that she’s not in the Bureau anymore, and that they’re there to meet her parents, and they plan to start a family. I think Naomi voluntarily left the FBI in order to become a homemaker, and though it’s easy to see this as more Ohba sexism in terms of “women should only be homemakers and that’s it,” I think Naomi probably left the FBI of her own accord and wanted this life for herself. Being a homemaker and a mother and a wife is a totally fine thing to want to be and it doesn’t automatically mean she’s just cowing to sexist ideas or anything like that, so we have to keep that in mind.

-I think Japan maybe has quite different ideas about this stuff in general in comparison to the Western world. It’s almost considered a relief for women to be able to get married and stay home and not work sometimes there instead, I do believe? I watched a little street interview about it once where Japanese women were being interviewed about if they’d rather work or be a homemaker. It seemed like a much more traditional mindset regarding this stuff, and like many thought it would be a luxury for them to not have to do the daily grind of a career at all. It’s also a very socially reserved culture there from what I’ve heard, and that could definitely lead to forming some odd ideas about the opposite sex. I definitely don’t know a whole lot about it myself, but it’s always good to keep in mind that we’re viewing things through the lens of our own culture most times, and our own interpretation isn’t always the objectively correct one.

-That being said, here is a post I made a while back in which Ohba demonstrates some clearly weird and offensive ideas about girls/women in comparison to men in his newer manga Bakuman, in which he almost seems to present them as a separate species entirely. The context of the scene is two high school boys discussing their female classmates, and the whole point of the scene is to show how smart the one boy is who is sharing his rather odd ideas about the girls: (X)

All in all I don’t think Raye is that bad, though I definitely also find it annoying how he words things to Naomi. I can’t remember how he came off in the LABB novel, because I think Naomi had a few phone calls from him in that too, but for the most part that above interaction is probably the one on which most of the fan hate for Raye is based.

I was curious about the one trial L lost back in the second book I think? What made him lose that trial, was it just the implication that he was ‘back’ with Light and that dicks with his head?

Oh my god that was so stupid, I actually figured out the case if L ever did talk about it (because I never know wtf he’ll do), so I’ll tell you a lil story.

L was representing a very wealthy client who was suing a dry cleaners for millions because they’d ruined his suit. Anyway, L lost, which wouldn’t be surprising ordinarily, but he had his 100% success record and all, and he fouled up his closing statement by laughing all the way through it. His mind wasn’t on the job, no, it was on a certain politician, and he was uncharacteristically cheerful. His argument was bullshit he invented about how this messed up suit was handmade by the client’s father using fabric passed down the family for generations. It has just been completed and was the last thing the client’s father gave to his son after the yacht they were on hit a rock and started to take on water. “Save the suit, son! Take it to dry land to cherish and pass on to my little grandson!“ the father said, saluting at the helm as the yacht sank and his son sat in the dinghy clutching the suit. So the emotional distress from the ruination of this suit was so great that the client was suing for millions in therapy costs, and the suit was irreplaceable, obviously.

I know you get a lot of questions about Those, but I love the story so much and I'm very curious about it. But if you don't feel like answering, it won't bother me.

Anon, I don’t think you realise how amazing it is for me to be asked anything about that fic. I just try not to talk about it much unless someone mentions it or asks me something because it seems wrong to talk about it unprompted like some mad woman howling at the moon. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to howl at the moon with an excuse. I’m very happy that you like it. That makes me the happiest bunny! 

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i am extremely smart i am so fucking calculative i could glance at your ass and know your social security number. one time a girl said a single sentence to me on discord and i doxxed her out of pure excitement and interest due to the fact she was the first woman i had talked to in months. I have analyzed my parents characteristics so thoroughly that i now know the precise combination of words to ask for mac n cheese. i used to do heroin but no longer do as I have figured out how to keep myself perpetually high using only bath water and some sugar. I am a fucking genius. I am a god damn mastermind. Do not fuck with me.

Those!Nayomi is such a tragic/ interesting character to me. We obviously only see her through Light’s perspective, so when she has her own agency it really surprises me, like when she knew about L/Light before practically anyone. I was wondering if Mikami’s assessment that Nayomi is still in love with Light and only keeps Mikami and Kiyomi around to stay in Light’s orbit holds any truth? Also, Light seems to actually hold some genuine fondness for her, or is this too hopeful of me to think? 😅

Thank you so much, I love her and it’s one of the irritations of writing from Light’s POV that she doesn’t get the airtime she deserves in the way she deserves it. Because I haven’t talked much about Naomi, I’m going to talk too much about her here. I hope you don’t mind. xxxx

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Death Note Characters Speed Dating

Light: somehow manages to tell you his whole life story and also listen to everything you say, takes notes the whole time, which makes it uncomfortable

L: doesn’t talk, just stares at you, is probably chewing on something, the first time he actually says anything is to correct your grammar to make the conversation even more awkward

Matsuda: super nervous but adorable, opens up really quick, doesn’t interrupt you, at leat not on purpose, if he happens to do it by accident he’ll apologize heavily, will feel super bad at the end for having to choose one person

Misa: is hotter than pretty much every one else and knows it, super enthusiastic, won’t let you finish a sentence, is already planning a second and a third date, will probably also talk about her exes

Aizawa: tries to be serious but fails, will start opening up right before the time ends, won’t laugh about your jokes, was probably forced to do this by a friend

Naomi: very polite, probably better at everything, makes you feel kinda worthless when you compare yourself to her, is not bragging about stuff though

Mello: “aren’t you a little young to be here?”, doesn’t need anyone (or so he says), angry but a good listener, you ask him if you maybe could have a piece of his chocolate and he bluntly says no, probably just doing this to prove a point

Mogi: very good listener, a lot of friendly energy, will laugh at your jokes and smile the whole time, makes you wonder if he’s actually that nice or just polite because the moment he stands up, he suddenly has a dead serious look on his face

Near: advoids eye contact, any question he’ll answer with a shrug, too much social interaction for his taste, you will end up taling about politics

Matt: has his gameboy with him, tells jokes you feel bad laughing at, makes a comment about your haircolour, very intelligent and nit secretive about it, gets his vine references

Raye: makes plans for the future (kids etc.), talks about his job, will interrupt you constantly, doesn’t get any jokes and sadly isn’t joking about some of the things he says, will look at his watch to check when it’s over

Ryuk: is just here to tell stupid dad jokes you have to laugh at, laughs at everything, does, doesn’t blink, invites you to play maro, makes the vine references

Beyond: probably high, possibly drunk, is talking an awful lot about fire to the point where it’s concerning, ends up telling you about his childhood, poor and mentions it a lot, doesn’t really let you speak but when he does he stares at you creepily so you’ll ceep it short

Wedy: got that big dick energy, is very straight forward, is dropping hints about being kinky too often for it to be nothing but a joke, ends up talking just as much as you wich results in an actually satisfying conversation

Rem: very new to the concept of dating but does her best, feels terribly sorry for accidentally interrupting you one time, doesn’t really speak a lot

Watari: the sugar daddy of your dreams, looks at everyone as though they are just fascinating machines, very polite though

Aiber: charming, carisma level 2000 and it shows, is probably lying a lot but you don’t care, is funny, is perfekt, your walet’s gone